Regina King says she knows ‘the fear’ but devotes the night to celebration, and early awards go to ‘The Father’ and ‘Promising Young Woman’
We were about three minutes into the Oscars when Regina King took the stage at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and said:
“I have to be honest: If things had gone differently this past week in Minneapolis, I might have traded my heels in for marching boots. Now I know that a lot of you people at home want to reach for your remote when you feel Hollywood is preaching to you, but as a mother of a Black son, I know the fear that so many live with, and no amount of fame or fortune changes that. But tonight, we are here to celebrate.”
Beautifully said.
With opening credits reminiscent of an “Ocean’s 11” movie — only fitting, seeing as how “Ocean’s” director Steven Soderbergh was the co-producer of the telecast — we accompanied Oscar winner King, who was clutching the first Oscar of the night, as she entered the makeshift “auditorium,” which looked pretty darn glamorous for a train station.
That first Oscar went to Emerald Fennell for her original screenplay for “Promising Young Woman,” which just might be a harbinger of more gold to come for the film and for star Carey Mulligan.
Next up was the adapted screenplay, with “The Father” scribes Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller in London and Paris, respectively, and Zeller did all the talking (and talking and talking), and hey: The remote connection worked because it was a satellite feed and not a laptop Zoom-y type deal.
But the first highlight of the 93rd Annual Academy Awards didn’t even take place during the actual ceremony — it happened early on in the preshow titled “Oscars Into the Spotlight,” when Molly Sandén and a kids’ choir in the fairy-tale colorful fishing village of Husavik, Iceland, sang “Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest.” The song was lip-synced by Rachel McAdams in the wacky comedy film but actually worked quite beautifully as a performance number that would have brought down the house had there been a house to bring down.
So, we had Husavik kids in Huvasik wearing fuzzy Husavik sweaters singing background on “Husavik” and it was the most Husavik thing ever and made me want to go whale watching in Husavik.
In fact, all five nominated songs worked great as remote, well-produced, elaborately orchestrated production numbers in the pre-show — as opposed to years past, when the songs were scattered throughout the ceremony and were often underwhelming miscalculations that only served to lengthen the proceedings.
Over all, the relatively muted, red-carpet procession featuring only nominees and presenters and a small gathering of press, and the low-key pre-show hosted by Ariana DeBose and Lil Rel Howery, struck the right tone for an Oscars that wanted to celebrate the glitz and glamour of Hollywood without coming across as tone-deaf. There was the usual amount of “You’re fabulous,” “No YOU’RE fabulous” gushing among celebs praising each other’s praise-worthy work, plenty of happy-to-be-here observations from actors and filmmakers who were out and about for maybe the first time since early last year, and then it was on to the host-free show itself.
Another preshow highlight: while Lil Rel Howery was talking to Angela Bassett (62), we saw separate glimpses of Rita Moreno (89) and Zendaya (24) on the red carpet.
Talk about your generational trifecta.
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/3xo2Tj5
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